In
our November 2005 Editorial, entitled “Improve We Can”, we made
mention of some improvements on the works for a better ULAT BATANGAN. So far,
we have effected several of them, to wit: all local news are already written
in Pilipino; we have our News in Photo and our pictures on page 1 —
all in living color!
Starting this January 2006, we will effect another major change. Readers will
hopefully notice that we have a longer paper. From an 11" x 14"
tabloid form, we are now a 11" x 17" tabloid. This may not be significant
to many but to us, it is. We are becoming more and more like the newspapers
in the news stands. We may be like them in form but we will always try to
be different in substance as we will have more good news in our paper. We
will be bringing information for the formation of our readers, clerics and
lay alike!

We may not effect yet the twice-a-month publication
as we have yet to harness the services of more writers, of which we are in
drought. More writers means more people to pay. That we cannot afford yet
as we still have to normalize our financial flow. While we will review the
list of our subscribers to see up to when their subscriptions are valid, we
are asking for more subscribers on the old price, i.e., P120 for 12 issues.
This covers mailing expense. We would like to see more schools making their
bulk orders on a more regular basis. Most of all, we wish that the parishes
follow the example of our schools. Should there be adjustments of this paper’s
price, we will duly inform our subscribers.

One of the things we promise is to ensure that this
paper has a touch of the Universal Church. We can show our unity with the
Universal Church as we make sure that we always have some informative news,
features or even documents from the Vatican. It is in this regard that we
have the New Year Message of the Holy Father!

The Archbishop made it very clear that following
the evangelical mandate, we take the “option for the poor”. By
doing so, we are not marginalizing the rich. However, those who have less
in life should be helped and assisted in acquiring more in law. The local
church’s stand in helping the folks at Talibayog and Baha in Calatagan
should not be interpreted as going head to head against Asturias, or even
the court of justice for that matter.

The people went to seek the intervention of the
local church’s authorities in their plight. They should be commended
for that as they have been offered by outside forces in their search for justice.
One of the things the local church is doing is to uplift their hope –
hope for a fair and just solution to the impasse, hope for justice to prevail.
It seeks to initiate and enter into a meaningful dialogue with parties concerned.
There may be a need at times that the church should speak on behalf of these
poor people. But all these are acts in consonance with their role as pastor
and guide of the flock.

Maybe very few Batanguenos know it, but the late Justice
Cecilia Munoz Palma was a pure Batanguena, being a native daughter of Bauan,
Batangas. She was born on November 22, 1913. She was simply OUTSTANDING in
her achievements.

She topped the Bar Exams in 1937, garnering a remarkable
92.6% grade. She became the first woman prosecutor (in Quezon City) from 1947-1954;
then moved on to become the first woman Judge of the Court of First Instance
(now RTC) from 1954-1968, assigned in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental and then
in San Pablo, Laguna. She was only the second woman to be appointed as Associate
Justice of the Court of Appeals (1968-1973); but became the first woman to
be elevated to the Supreme Court (1973-1978). Indeed an icon of modern Filipina!

She exhibited that Batangueno character of undaunted
courage when she championed the cause of freedom and democracy during the
dark days of Martial Law. Her unswerving adherence to the rule of law and
human rights was outstanding and relentless. Instrumental in uniting the fragmented
opposition during the now-famous snap elections that led to the installation
of former President Corazon A. Aquino, she was made member of the Constitutional
Commission, which the latter formed, to frame the fundamental law that the
country now follows.

But what many may not also realize is that she is a
faithful daughter of the Church. It was the late Pope Paul VI who gave her
that distinguished award proper to loyal lay leaders who can serve as role
model for the Catholic faithful. She was a recipient of the “Pro Ecclesia
et Pontifice” Cross in 1977. The Catholic Mass Media Awards also recognized
her contribution to public service in 1978 as “Outstanding Public Servant”.
This does not include the numerous recognitions, commendations and awards
accorded her by civil and government bodies.

We grieve for her demise; yet we are proud we have
a Batanguena worthy of the call of the Lord to serve and follow Him.

It is indeed difficult to gauge and quantify the liturgical
spirituality of our faithful, ordained and non-ordained. What we can give
are indicators of how far the people have developed and imbibed a truly liturgical
spirituality. It is for this reason that the report focuses more on the efforts
and initiatives that were undertaken and are patiently and vigorously sustained
toward a further intensification of our local Church’s liturgical spirituality.

I. Past Experience: Devotional Spirituality

Even before Christianity reached the Philippines, Filipinos
were already characterized by their religiosity, their common experience and
consciousness of the holy be it within themselves or surrounding them.²
Today, almost five hundred years after the coming of Christianity they still
believe in the God revealed by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and introduced
by the first Spanish missionaries. They greatly value this faith and are careful
not to lose it even in the midst of trials. Several practices show that this
faith is still alive and vibrant even after a long history behind.

The inability of the Filipino Catholics, however, to
comprehend the liturgy and the liturgical celebrations even in the few years
after Vatican II made them turn to private devotions and endeared the various
devotional practices to them. They have occupied the central place in the
heart and spirituality of the Filipino Catholics. People flocked to churches
and chapels to pray the novena. Those who were unable to do so say them in
their homes, in the privacy of their rooms. They carried in their bags not
only rosaries but also novena booklets.

II. Present Situation: Gradual Flourishing of Liturgical
Spirituality

A. Liturgical Renewal and the Gradual Shift to Liturgical
Spirituality

Though in our country devotions are still very popular,
we cannot discount the inroads made by developments in the area of liturgical
renewal and the faithful’s liturgical life. The local Church in the
Philippines asserts that significant steps have already been taken to promote
liturgical renewal in the Philippines so that the participation of the faithful
in sacramental celebrations may be informed, active, full and communitarian.³
In fact, in most parishes and religious communities, our people participate
regularly in the renewed liturgy of the Church, some of them very actively
and consciously. They have begun to appreciate the liturgy and the kind of
spirituality it offers and develops in them. Our people have so much faith,
especially in the Eucharist, that our present concern is the proliferation
of pluri-intentional Masses and frequency of Masses; the same is true in the
countryside. Novenas to the saints are incomplete without the daily celebration
of the Mass until their fiestas (feastday). People long for a truly meaningful
and fruitful liturgical celebration; they cherish and appreciate the efforts
exerted by liturgical presiders to make them feel and experience the liturgy
and the mystery it celebrates.

Two very important and significant developments in
the Philippines that have contributed to the local Church’s awareness
about liturgical spirituality and truly set into motion the liturgical renewal
were the yearly Liturgy Week4 sponsored by the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady
of Montserrat and the annual National Meetings of Diocesan Directors of Liturgy
[NMDDL] under the auspices of the Episcopal Commission oh Liturgy [ECL] of
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines [CBCP].5 The annual
NMDDL was instrumental in the establishment of the Paul VI Institute of Liturgy
[PIL]6 in the late 1980’s, which, in consortium with San Beda College,
eventually paved the way for the Graduate School of Liturgy [GSL]7–
the first of its kind in the Philippines and in Asia which confers academic
degrees. Vis-à-vis these developments and institutions were the organization,
strengthening and formation of liturgical committees in dioceses and parishes,
as well as of regional committees on liturgy.

All these turned out to be the perfect avenue and fora
for the local Church’s liturgical formation and catechesis and stirred
much greater awareness about liturgy and, consequently, liturgical spirituality.
The establishment of institutes for lay liturgical ministries and the liturgical
seminars, symposia and formation courses, especially for parish liturgical
committees, were perfect opportunities to make people aware that liturgy is
not only all about rubrics, rites and ceremonies, but that it can also be
the source of authentic Christian spirituality, that is, liturgical spirituality.
In fact, in these formation courses, more emphasis is given to the history,
theology and spirituality, aside from the pastoral possibilities, of the liturgical
celebration.
In the parish level, efforts were made by diocesan liturgical commissions
to encourage people to celebrate actively and fruitfully not only the Eucharist
and the other sacraments, but also the Prayer of the Church, that is, the
Liturgy of the Hours. The translation of the same into the vernacular served
as a catalyst for the spread and popularity of the same among our lay faithful.
They pray the Office not only individually but also celebrate it communally
in our parish churches, either in the morning before Mass or in the afternoon
or evening before or after Mass. They now realize and discover its value and
significance in their daily spiritual life. The Federation of Tagalog Diocesan
Liturgical Commissions, in particular spearheading this effort of the Philippine
Church as a whole.

Very recently, liturgical matters became “news”
and hugged, at least for a week, even the front pages and editorials of national
newspapers and tabloids, e.g., gestures such as the sign of the cross after
receiving communion, holding of hands during the singing of the “Lord’s
Prayer”, etc. For the first time in the history of the Philippine Church
and the liturgical renewal, the final statements of the 20th NMDDL called
the attention of our faithful with a much wider coverage – attesting
to the fact that they are beginning to get “interested” in liturgy
and talk about it. This was totally unexpected! But it certainly was a very
clear and positive indicator that the liturgy has truly affected people. They
now find meaning even in the liturgical gestures they adopt. People everywhere
were alarmed by what they have read in newspapers and tabloids, heard over
the radio and watched in national televisions. Now, who would say that the
liturgy is something trivial and insignificant!

B. Liturgical Year, Popular Religiosity and the Attempt
at Inculturation

To us, emotion and not the intellect, the heart and
not the head, serves as bridge to the Holy One. While in the West this is
superstition, to us this is a testimony to our innate respect and reverence
for the power of the Almighty.

The local Church calls for a renewed life of worship
by means of critical and fervent use of popular religious practices, otherwise
known as popular religiosity, since these religious practices are rich in
values and expressions of the living faith of our people and could become
a protagonist in the renewal of the Church. As true expressions of faith,
they have become a springboard as well as an invitation for the deepening
of a more religious consciousness. It cannot be denied that they have maintained
in our people a deep Christian content. In fact, an authentic pastoral promotion
of the liturgy will build upon the riches of popular religiosity, purifying
and directing it towards the liturgy as the offering of the peoples.8 We utilize
them as vehicles of evangelization towards worship in spirit and truth.9 TO
BE CONTINUED

Message to Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles, D.D., Bishop
Salvador Quizon, D.D., all priests, all religious men and women, Catholic
school directors and directresses, vicariate priest and lay migrant coordinators,
and all parish migrants’ coordinators, migrants and their families,
and all the faithful of the Archdiocese of Lipa

May the Hope of the New Year bring God’s blessings
to you, your family, and your ministry!
We begin this year of the Lord 2006 with our pastoral care program for our
migrants and their families with our own Archdiocesan affair of the National
Migrants’ Sunday Celebration on March 4 and 5, 2006 at the Provincial
Sports Complex, Bolbok, Batangas City. We invite you to be there with your
migrant families from your parish (PASAMPA) and your students and youth who
are children of Migrant Batangueños (ANAK Batangueño). The theme
for this event is: MIGRATION: AN OCCASION FOR EVANGELIZATION.

On March 4, 2006, Saturday, there will be symposia,
activities, and different booths available to serve our Migrant Batangueños.
Church (Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerants), Government institutions
(OWWA, POEA, DFA, etc.), business (banks, insurance, communications, etc.),
and non-government organizations will be available on this day. There will
also be singing and band competitions on this day to be facilitated by ANAK
Batangueño committees. There will also be some sports competition like
basketball and volleyball.

Free phone calls and free internet access are available
to all registered migrants and their families from our parishes and catholic
schools. There will also be a job fair on this day. There will also be free
medical and dental mission. These are all available in the Gymnasium from
March 4 to March 5, 2005. There will however be no free rides and no free
lunch on this day.

On March 5, 2006, Sunday, the migrants and their families
(PASAMPA) and the members of ANAK Batangueño will gather at the Grand
Stand inside the sports complex. Everybody will get free rides from their
parishes and schools and back. The first 10,000 registrants also get one free
lunch for the occasion. For snacks and extra food needs, they can bring their
own food or buy from available booths during the day.

It is necessary that each parish and each school will
submit the membership listing of those who will participate to avail of the
freebies including the free calls, free internet use, and the raffle draw.
The program for this day is as follows:

With God’s blessing and the Church challenge
to address the issue of migration, this is one of our local Church’s
responses to establish deeply and in a meaningful way, the Pastoral Care Program
for migrants in the Archdiocese. Moreover, with the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, a more meaningful program of pastoral care will be prepared to address
their needs as human beings and as believers of Christ.

We request you, with the assistance of your lay parish
and school coordinator/s, to prepare your parish list of the members of your
PASAMPA (Pamparokyang Samahan ng Migranteng Pamilya). For the schools, please
submit the ANAK Batangueño Members list as separate from the parish
listing. They will eventually get more benefits if they are registered members.
This will happen with the support of the Government, non-government, and business
institutions. Identification Cards will soon be available to all members so
that they can have access to these multiple benefits.

We need to know how many will attend from your parish
or school so that we can prepare vehicles to transport them and food for their
lunch not later than February 19, 2006. If you still do not have a parish
coordinator, please have one who is a member of a migrant family and who is
younger and willing to serve in this ministry. Please coordinate with your
parish or school coordinators.

I hope you will give your full cooperation in this
special and meaningful event in the Archdiocese. This is only the beginning
of a yearlong program of pastoral care to migrants in our Archdiocese. We
actually foresee and look to a fruitful ministry to them this year and beyond.
We know you will support this Migrants Program affecting practically half
of our believers in the Archdiocese. May God bless you always! Thanks a lot!

Notes:
1. Please tell the participants to bring hats and/or umbrellas since it will
be a whole day affair under the sun.
2. There will be available First Aid centers to deal with emergency health
concerns.
3. Any business company who would like to participate and take advantage of
the event must coordinate with me first before setting up any promotion or
advertisement during the day. We have an events organizer (SYSTEMAT-PRODEX)
which will manage the two-day event.
4. I hope that there is already parish and school lists of the migrants (PASAMPA)
and the ANAK Batangueños. The list you will bring is the one with the
names of those who will participate in the event. Make sure that they really
belong to a migrant family and that they are duly listed in your parish membership.
5. Since it is going to be a hot day, tell them to bring water. There will
be available water centers but having one bottle of water will be practical.
6. For further information and clarification, please do not hesitate to call
me or any of the priest and lay vicariate coordinators or call LACCMI office:
(043) 756-0385 and look for Miss Jun Inabayan.

We likewise join our Carmelite and Canossian Sisters
in their profound joy for the Golden Jubilee of the Carmelite Local Superior,
Mo. Bernadette Bautista, OCD on 8 Dec 2005, and the election of the Canossian
Local Superior Mo. Elma Escalante, FdCC as the Provincial Superior in the
Philippines. Mo. Elma will be installed on 11 February 2006.

* * * * * * *

New Appointees…
§ Rev. Fr. Nonie Dolor - (re)appointed to his former assignment as Director
of the Archdiocesan Commission on Social Communications vice Fr. Ilde Dimaano
who remains Director of 99.1 Spirit FM. Fr. Ilde can now dedicate more time
in his preparations for a new parish in Batangas City.

Fr. Nonie is a devoted and very active practitioner
in the omni-media apostolate: Sunday CableTV Mass & Spirit FM radio programs,
and Ulat-Batangan Supervising Editor (together with Fr. Oca Andal). During
his stint as director of the Commission on Social Communications, he was also
director of Pater Putativus Publishing House when it was established in 1993,
with Fr. Richard Panganiban as Manager–Director, assisted by Fr. Jonas
Palmares.

§ Rev. Fr. Mike Samaniego - School Administrator
of St. Mary’s Educational Institute in Lemery, Batangas. Fr. Lito Malibiran,
Parish Priest of St. Roche, Lemery, and School Director of SMEI, passes the
reins on the financial and academic matters to Fr. Mike, who will work closely
with him in the pastoral needs of the academic community.

Special Thanks!
The Parish of St. Francis Xavier in Nasugbu, Batangas, in cooperation with
the Lipa Clergy, expresses great gratitude to its parishioners and benefactors
for their continued and untiring support for the construction of the Parish
Church by staging another Priests’ Concert on 27 January, 7pm at the
Municipal Gymnasium. No less than the Parish Priest, Msgr. Fred Madlangbayan,
leads the priests in this night of musical entertainment!

* * * * * * *

Special Prayers and Greetings!
Our former Archbishop (1972-1981) now Archbishop of Cebu, His Eminence RICARDO
J. CARDINAL VIDAL, DD, celebrates his 75th birthday on 6 February. His other
milestones this year include: 26 August- his 25th year of ministry in Cebu
and 30 November – his 35th Episcopal Ordination Anniversary

* * * * * * *

Heartfelt Gratitude!
Praised be the Lord for touching the hearts of benevolent faithfuls! Through
the years, our seminaries, St. Joseph Seniorate (home for the sick and senior
priests of the Archdiocese) and Diocesan Religious sisters (Missionary Catechists
of the Sacred Heart or MCSH) have been benefiting from the generosity of concerned
people. Of late, birthday and wedding anniversary celebrations have become
venues for these benevolent acts: in lieu of personal gifts, donations were
turned in by guests. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the latest celebrant-benefactors:
for the SFS Theo Sem- Fr. Jun Quiambao (Bday); for the Seniorate - Mr. &
Mrs. Julian-Lucila Africa (50th Wedding Anniv.), Dr. & Mrs. Maximo-Imelda
Africa (60th Wedding Anniv / also for the Seniorate), Mr. & Mrs. Felino-Salud
Briones (50th Wedding Anniv.); and for the MCSH - Ms. Amelia Cornejo (80th
Bday), Ms. Lucy Monastrial (Bday), Dr. Teodoro Villa (Bday), Mr. & Mrs.
Rudy-Rose Lojo (25th Wedding Anniv),. All celebrants hail from Lipa City.

May God continue to bless you, dear benefactors, your
families, relatives and friends as you in turn continue to be His blessing
to our Local Church.